Seeking Love
by TMMartin19
Summary: In his third year, after winning the Quidditch Cup Katie Bell gives Harry a kiss to celebrate. After a particularly rough welcome to Durzkaban, Harry ends up spending the summer at Katie's house. The two begin to explore the feelings the have for each other as Harry begins to realize his full magical potential. HP/KB Smart!Harry Powerful!Harry
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

For the first time Harry Potter was happy while returning to Durzkaban. Harry's year had been surprisingly good. Sure Wormtail managed to escape because of the actions of the greasy git known as Snape, but all in all he had worse years. Like the year his DADA professor was possessed and tried to kill him, or the year a giant basilisk was released in the school and he had to fight it. This year ‒despite several attempts to the contrary‒ he had survived, his godfather had been freed, an innocent animal had escaped unjust execution at the hands of a sadist, and despite problems with his friends they managed to grow closer than ever.

Those are all good reasons to be happy, but no they were not the main reason he was happy. The main reason he was happy involved the Quidditch Cup. Their captain, Oliver Wood, was in his final year and was ecstatic after they won. The huge party in the Gryffindor common room lasted well into the night ‒or rather morning‒and Professor McGonagall didn't seem to care. The real reason for Harry's happiness occurred during the party. In fact, it was the key memory he used when he sent out his Patronus to fight off around one hundred Dementors.

While recapping the events of the game, Katie Bell had kissed him full on the lips for a good thirty seconds. It was his first kiss and nothing ‒not even his impending return to Durzkaban‒ could take away the happiness he felt from kissing a beautiful girl like Katie. After the kiss they had talked frequently between classes and she had even given him her floo address even after he told her that he most likely wouldn't be able to use it. She wanted him to have it "just in case." He had thought about sending owls back and forth but the risk was too great that the Dursleys would be angered. As it was his other friends, Ron Weasely and Hermione Granger, could only send letters once a month. It was a shame because he really wanted to see more of Katie. At first they were only teammates, but after the kiss and talking to each other frequently they had become good friends.

He was surprised to say the least when she put her arms around his neck and kissed him. It took him a few seconds to realize what she was doing before he put his arms around her slender waist and kissed her back. He was lucky to have been kissed by such a beautiful girl. Beautiful ‒that was the only way to describe her and even that didn't quite do her justice. She had silky brown hair that was usually tied back in a ponytail, a slender waist with curvy hips, full pink lips, fair skin, long shapely legs that‒

"Boy! What are you smiling about!?"

"Nothing important Uncle." Harry said as his smile immediately fell into a more neutral expression.

Your damn right its nothing important boy. You're nothing but a freak and you will amount to nothing, just like the rest of your freakish kind. So wipe that damned smirk off your face this instant.

"Yes sir." Harry responded to his 'uncle' Vernon Dursley. Ah, the Dursleys, the bane of young Harry's short existence. For nearly eleven years Harry was treated as a slave b his 'relatives' ‒he used that term loosely. His name was freak until he reached primary school. He would never forget his embarrassment when he had to introduce himself to the class and gave his name as 'Freak'. The teacher was surprised and talked about it to his 'aunt' Petunia Dursley when she came to pick Harry and Dudley up after school. Petunia told the teacher that Harry was just trying to get attention and to make nothing of it as he did this sort of thing a lot. He received an extra beating and the name Harry James Potter for his troubles.

He would never be able to thank Hagrid enough for rescuing him from Durzkaban to tell him he was a wizard and bring him to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He spent nine months out of twelve at the greatest magical school in Europe. The worst part of going to Hogwarts was that he had to return to the Dursley's house for a three month summer break. He would gladly deal with Snape all year long if it meant he wouldn't be forced to return to Durzkaban again. Sadly he was on that three month prison sentence starting today. He could see the house at Number Four Privet Drive now and really started to dread his slave labor sentence handed to him by the same cruel Fates that robbed him of his parents and his childhood. 'Crap we're here,' he thought.

"Boy, put your freak stuff by the cupboard under the stairs and then come to the front room so we can give you your list of chores for this summer. You're thirteen now so you better be ready to do more of your fair share."

"Yes sir." Harry replied dejectedly. He hated talking to his 'relatives' like that, but it was easier ‒not to mention safer‒ to do so anyway. As he walked over and put his stuff by the cupboard he called his own for nearly eleven years, he contemplated snaking some of his books into his room ‒really it was Dudley's second bedroom‒ so he could start on his summer assignments. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Petunia shriek from the front room.

"BOY!" Vernon yelled. "Get in here now!"

As Harry walked in he noticed an owl perched on the sofa and a red faced Vernon with a letter clutched in his pudgy hands.

"What the bloody hell is this you freak?"

'Ah, it was freak now was it? That meant he was due for a beating' Harry thought. "I don't know sir. If you tell me what the letter says I might be able to help you better."

"Don't use that tone with me freak. This letter says that you have a godfather."

"Oh I do sir." As he said it Harry started thinking about why his knew found godfather, Sirius Black, would send a letter to the Dursleys. 'Maybe they stole my mail' he thought.

"Well then where the bloody hell was he when your freak parents were died?" Vernon shouted out as his face turned a shade best described as puce.

Harry barely managed to keep his anger under control as he responded. "He was convicted of thirteen accounts of murder sir, but he broke out of prison this past year so that he could check up on me. You know, make sure I'm safe and happy and all that."

Vernon paled but then proceeded to smirk as an idea somehow managed to form in his normally empty skull. "Well freak we're just going to have to make you unhappy so that when he comes to check up on you we can turn him over to the authorities and collect the ransom money. We can kill you and blame him for the murder so that we get the sympathy of everyone in Britain and then we wouldn't have to deal with you ever again."

Harry knew that he would be beaten within until he was comatose to prevent him from doing anything to stop Vernon. Even though he only got average grades in school, Harry was smart. Perhaps even more so than Hermione, as he had to hold himself back but still do well enough that the professors didn't notice. It was something he was forced to do in primary school as he was beaten if he ever got better grades than Dudley the Whale, and he was beaten if he ever did a lot worse than Dudders. When he was on his way to Hogwarts he thought that he would finally be able to work to his full potential in school, but once he met Ron Weasely and Hermione Granger he realized that if he wanted to keep them as friends he wouldn't be able to. Since Dudley drove anyone who talked to him away, he didn't have any friend till Ron and Hermione and he didn't want to drive them away. Most people knew about Ron's jealousy streak, but Hermione's was just as bad ‒if not worse. Ron was jealous of anyone who had more money or fame than him, while Hermione hated anyone who did better than her in anything involving learning. Using his knowledge to his fullest, Harry came up with a plan ‒albeit a risky one. He would have to wait until Vernon threw him into his room first. The main problem would be holding onto his consciousness and hoping that the magic wouldn't be detected.

Harry came up with his plan in the seven or so seconds it took for Vernon's meaty paw to connect with one of his ribs. As that rib audibly cracked he thought 'Shit, one punch and I already have a broken bone. He's not gonna waste any time with this beating.'

As expected, the beating was the worst Harry had experienced. For about twenty minutes Vernon punched Harry all over his body while slamming him repeatedly against the wall. Twenty minutes was all it took for Harry to have both his legs, both his arms, both his shoulders, his jaw, and a bone near his right eye broken. It took all his willpower to hold onto the slipping thread he called consciousness. After the twenty minutes were up, Vernon grabbed Harry by his neck and dragged him forcibly up the stairs into Dudley's second bedroom.

"That's what you get for being a freak!" Vernon shouted as he threw Harry at the back wall.

'Oh fuck!' Harry thought as his back made contact with the wall and he heard a cracking sound. 'If that was my spine then not even magic will be able to fix it.'

After Vernon slammed the door shut and padlocked it from without, Harry knew it was now or never to enact his plan if he wanted to save Sirius and himself.

"Dobby.'' Harry managed to whisper out of his broken jaw.

Dobby appeared with a 'pop' and did a double taken when he saw the state his friend and master was in. "Oh Great Master Harry Potter sir what happened?" The House Elf cried out.

"I'll explain later Dobby, but right now I need you do something. Put me in stasis and take me to the address that's on the slip of paper in my back pocket. Once you do that I need you to take all my school stuff and bring it there as well." Normally Harry wouldn't want the crazy House Elf to put his hands anywhere near his pockets, but Harry was too busy almost dying to really care.

"Of course Great Master Harry Potter sir!" Dobby cried out as he proceeded to do just what Harry told him to.

Harry's last thought before he lost consciousness was 'So much for an easy summer before I returned to my real home and saw all my friends again. The Fates must really fucking hate me.'

**AN: Read and Review**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Much like young Harry, Katie Bell was happy while returning to her home for the summer break. Gryffindor had finally managed to win the Quidditch Cup thanks to Harry. When he had fainted and fallen off of his broom while the Dementors charged him, she had been terrified. Even after Professor Dumbledore had managed to levitate Harry to the ground safely, she had thought for sure that he wouldn't want to get back on a broom anytime soon. It had been shocking to say the least when he returned to practice right after Madam Pomfrey had released him. Then when Malfoy and his stooges tried to scare Harry by dressing up as Dementors, Harry barely paid them any notice as he sent a Corporeal Patronus at them.

It was after that game that she had found that she was crushing on him. He somehow always managed to find himself in horrible positions and then would surprise everyone by getting out of them in some kind of heroic fashion. After she had kissed him, he had told all about the events in his first and second year. If anybody else had told her those stories, she would have passed them off as exactly that ‒stories. When she looked into his eyes she could see the pain reflected in them when he blamed himself for getting his best friend Hermione Granger petrified and for Ginny being possessed. She had nearly freaked out when Harry had mentioned that You-Know-Who had been behind nearly all the problems he had in his first two years at what was supposed to be the safest place in Magical Britain.

Another thing that surprised her was that he never bragged about what he had done. Even after he was the main reason why Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup this past year and the House Cup the prior two years, he said that he couldn't have done anything without his friends and teammates. When he said that her Chasing skills were the real reason behind the Gryffindor Quidditch Cup win, she had given into her urges and kissed him on the spot ‒much to his surprise. She had only kissed one other boy, but compared to the kiss she shared with Harry she couldn't even refer to her other time as a kiss. She had talked to him a lot after that kiss and despite the gossip they were only friends.

She had hoped that she would be able to hang out with him more over the summer and was saddened when he explained that he most likely wouldn't be able to. When she asked him why, he had simply stated that he lived with Muggles who despised magic and left it at that. Katie would have asked for more information, but despite his attempts to hide it he couldn't mask the sadness reflected in his own eyes. At least she would be able to hang out with Alicia and Angelina.

She had just finished putting her clothes back into her wardrobe when she heard a soft 'pop' downstairs. That sort of thing was normal when one lived in a decent sized Wizarding house and had a couple of House Elves. The Bell family wasn't rich like many of the other old Pureblood families, and her family had received a lot of criticism when her pureblood father married a muggleborn witch. Despite the problems her father was a very successful Lawyer while her mother had become a respected Healer ‒well respected as much as possible for a muggleborn. While she had ignored the first 'pop' she could hardly ignore the second as it was followed by a rather loud 'crash'.

"Katie," her father called out, "what was that noise? Are you having trouble unpacking?"

"No Dad," Katie responded with a small frown. "I'll go see what happened."

When she reached the front room of her house she barely managed to keep herself from vomiting when she saw the state Harry was in. She could not, however, keep herself from screaming once she felt like she had regained control of her stomach.

"Katie what's wrong?" Her Mr. Bell shouted as he ran into the room with his wand drawn and ready to do battle with whatever made his only daughter scream out in terror. "Oh Merlin!" he whispered when he too saw Harry. Thinking fast he said, "Quick Katie we need to get him to St. Mungos right now. Your mother is working her shift right now and should be able to help once we get there if the others Healers can't."

Katie heard the words her father had said but she couldn't bring her body to react as she continued to stare at the state the incredibly kind boy she had cared for was in.

"Katie! We need to move now if we want to save him. After he is stable and wakes up we'll find out who did this to him and I promise you that I will see them brought to justice." Mr. Bell promised as he felt anger at whoever could put the person his daughter cared about in that kind of state. Right now, however, he knew that there was a good chance that Harry would die if they didn't act in the next couple of minutes. As he told his daughter all this he floo called the St Mungos emergency response team and told them to bring their best Healers ‒including his wife‒ over immediately.

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All Harry could see was darkness. 'Am I dead? Well hopefully Sirius doesn't screw himself over by taking revenge on the Dursleys. Crap they might have their flaws like everyone else but Ron and Hermione are still my best friends and they're gonna be crushed if I'm really dead'

Slowly Harry felt consciousness ‒and pain‒ returning to him. The first thing he noticed after the pain was that he could hear two voices seemingly arguing. One voice was young and female that seemed familiar to him but he couldn't place it, while the other voice was of an older male unknown to him.

"Dad I need to be here when Harry wakes up." Harry heard the female voice say.

"Honey, it's been nearly two weeks. The Healers said it would take him awhile to recover." Mr. Bell didn't add that it was a big possibility that Harry might not wake up as he didn't want to upset his daughter even more.

'Two weeks?' Harry thought. 'No that doesn't seem right. Hmm the last thing I remember is calling Dobby and having him take me to someone.' Try as he might Harry just couldn't place the person whose house Dobby sent him to.

"Dad I need to be here when he wakes up." The female voice replied. A rush of feeling threatened to overwhelm Harry's recovering senses as he heard the girl speak. Feelings of happiness, contentment, and affection were the most prominent.

"Katie, I know you care about your friend but you need your rest." The male voice said. 'Katie! Of course!' All his memories became clearer as he recognized Katie's voice.

"Katie…" Harry managed to say when he felt recovered enough to speak.

"Healer! The patient is awake!" he heard the male voice shout as Katie gasped.

Harry then heard multiple pairs of run into the room he was in and felt the magic wash over him from what was almost certainly diagnostic spells. He heard a male voice that undoubtedly belonged to a healer ask how he was feeling. Despite only just waking from a two week coma while he healed, Harry was feeling snarky. "Well Doc, besides the fact that I can't feel any part of my body other than my mouth I've never been better."

One of the other Healers chuckled while the one that had talked simply gave off a loud sigh. "Mr. Potter I'm Healer Tavish. While we perform the rest of the diagnostic spells we want you to tell us exactly what happened to you. We have an Auror in the room who is going to take your statements so he can begin an investigation if necessary."

By the time Harry finished his tale ‒he substituted Ron for Sirius as Ron had told Harry that he would send a letter right when he returned home‒ Harry had regained the rest of senses, though he still couldn't move. He noticed that Mr. Bell and the Auror looked furious, while Katie had tears in her eyes and Healer Tavish looked saddened. "Well Mr. Potter you are extremely lucky to be alive. It seems that the crack you heard when your Uncle threw you against the wall must have been the wall itself cracking, because while your spine was bruised slightly you were right to assume that not even magic would have been able to help you if your spine had indeed cracked." Tavish told him.

Mr. Bell asked why Harry's innate magic hadn't healed him or let off a burst of accidental magic to protect him. "When we were healing Harry the second day he was here we noticed that he had a couple of blocks on his magical core that prevented most bursts of accidental magic. We removed them and Harry's innate magic is now helping to heal him. I believe the amount of magic Harry has is why he woke up sooner than our estimations." Healer Tavish informed him, surprising even the Auror.

Harry was shocked, but he had to know if the blocks did anything else and then he would have to figure out who put them on his core. "Healer Tavish, did the blocks do anything else?"

"I'm glad you asked Mr. Potter. It seems that the blocks interfered with one another and also affected your general use of magic."

As the Healer let that sink in, the Auror decided to ask Harry a question that had been bothering him. "Harry, why didn't you use magic on your relatives when they threatened you? Since you would have been acting in self-defense, you would have been allowed to."

'Ah crap, that would have been good to know.' Harry thought. "Well Auror…?"

"Finnlen."

"Well Auror Finnlen, I had my wand in my back pocket like I normally do and I wouldn't have been able to pull it out in time." Harry stated with a twinge of embarrassment.

"Next time remember to keep your wand in a place that's easier to reach. For example you could get a wrist holder. Oh, and an old teacher of mine told me that you are extremely likely to blow your own buttocks off if you keep a wand in your back pocket." Auror Finnlen explained and chuckled briefly when he thought of the crazy, paranoid Auror that trained him.

At that point Healer Tavish reentered the conversation. "Yes, we have a couple of those cass every month. Anyway Mr. Potter you're going to have to take about twelve or so potions every day for the next month or so." At Harry's loud groan, Healer Tavish explained further. "These potions should correct your eyesight and the other problems brought on by your malnourishment in addition to healing your injuries."

Harry agreed that that was okay, and the team of Healers followed Auror Finnlen and Healer Tavish out the door. "Harry, I'm Henry Bell, Katie's father." At Harry's nod Mr. Bell continued. "What I would like to know is why you had your Elf send you to our house and not one of your other friend's houses?"

"Well Mr. Bell I remembered Katie mentioning that her mother was a Healer and I was hoping that she was home," Harry explained.

"My wife is one of the best Healers here at St. Mungos, but she was on duty at the time and so we floo called the emergency response team. My wife did help heal some of your injuries though." Harry nodded as he took that information in.

"Harry, who would put blocks on your magical core?" Katie asked, surprising the room's occupants slightly as she had been silent ever since Harry had woken up.

"I believe that would be me Ms. Bell, and it seems that I was drastically wrong when I did so," came a voice from the doorway. Everyone looked over and saw Headmaster Albus Dumbledore walk in. "I had put the blocks on young Harry to prevent him from having as many outbursts of accidental magic as he had before the terrible night he received his scar. I didn't want Harry to have any more problems integrating with his Muggle relatives when Hagrid dropped him off at their home. It seems that I made a grievous mistake doing that as well. In an attempt to give Harry a normal childhood away from his fame, I robbed him of the very childhood I wished to give him and almost robbed him of his very life." Harry wanted to be angry with his Headmaster, but he simply couldn't when he saw that instead of the usual twinkle, Dumbledore's eyes were full of sadness and deep regret. "Could you find it in your heart to forgive and old man for his horrible mistakes Harry?"

Before Harry could answer Mr. Bell Spoke up. "Albus, did you know that the blocks you put on Harry disrupted his general magic as well?"

Dumbledore looked surprised at that and said, "No, I didn't know that would happen either. It seems that I have made only mistakes when it involves young Harry."

"It's fine Professor, I'm sure you were just looking after me. The only real problem I have is that you ignored me when I complained about the Dursleys to you." Harry stated as he tried to digest all of what his Headmaster had just told him.

"Yes, I can't apologize enough for my actions. I thought that you were just exaggerating as I refused to believe that anyone could treat their own family like the Dursleys treated you. i also thought that the blood wards would be the best protection for you regardless of a little discomfort on your part," Dumbledore explained as he took off his half-moon spectacles and rubbed his eyes wearily.

"I'm assuming I never have to return there Headmaster?" Harry asked expecting Dumbledore to answer. Instead Mr. Bell answered.

"You're correct Harry that is one of the reasons the Auror was here earlier. Your relatives are going to be tried in front of the Wizengamot. In fact I'm going to represent you in the case."

Harry was certainly astonished that Mr. Bell would be representing him. He had heard from Arthur Weasely that he was one of the best Wizarding Lawyers in all of Britain. "Thank you sir," Harry said while wondering where the money for the case was going to come from as his trust vault only covered education.

"It is no problem Harry and don't worry about the cost. This case is important to me as a person and as a father," Mr. Bell replied. Harry was touched that this man whom he had only just met already seemed to care about him.

"Thank you for forgiving me Harry. I'll let you res and I'll tell your friends that you are up and that they can visit tomorrow. They have been very worried about u. make sure you get some rest so you can be out of here as soon as possible Harry," Dumbledore said as he left the room.

"We'll leave you to rest too Harry. We'll make sure to come back tomorrow morning though so don't worry," Henry Bell said as he too left the room.

Katie walked up to Harry and placed a small, soft kiss on his lips as she promised that she would visit tomorrow as soon as she was able. When she left Harry couldn't help but think that despite almost dying, again, his life might finally be getting better. Then he remembered the old saying that went something along the lines of 'things tend to get worse before they get better'. Harry hoped that was true as he didn't want to see his life somehow get even worse.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note**: because I managed to forget to put the disclaimer in the first chapter I will put it here. This story is based on characters and situations created by JK Rowling and as such they do not belong to me. I make no money from this story and no copy right infringement is intended.

**SL Chapter Three**

When Dumbledore returned to his office, he wondered about how his carefully laid plans had gone wrong. He _knew_ that the blood wards were the best protection that he could offer young Harry apart from possibly the Fidelus charm. Now, he had to find some other place to put Harry until he was ready to face his destiny. The aging Headmaster also pondered about the removal of his blocks on Harry's Magical Core. When Henry Bell had told asked him about the blocks disrupting Harry's general magic, the Headmaster had managed to look suitably surprised. Truth be told, Dumbledore was worried that Harry would realize the sheer amount of raw power he held and fall to the Dark Arts like so many others before him. The Prophecy had said that Harry would be marked as Tom Riddle's equal. Dumbledore realized that it was nigh impossible for a teenager to be able to defeat the strongest Dark Lord in recent history and if Severus was to be believed, that Dark Lord's return was fast approaching. Tom had a staggering amount of knowledge and skill in the Dark Arts and it was a good guess that as his equal Harry would be a natural at the Dark Arts as well. There was a chance that Harry would discover the power Tom knew not, but it was a very slim chance as Dumbledore's hunch couldn't be proven. No, either Harry would fall to the Dark Arts to gain enough power to defeat Tom or he would have to sacrifice himself for the Greater Good. If Harry turned to the Dark Arts and then managed to defeat Tom, there would be little stopping Harry from becoming the next Dark Lord himself. As such Harry would simply have to sacrifice himself.

Dumbledore wished it didn't have to be this way. Harry was truly a great young man. He was loyal, noble, and would go to great lengths to protect those around him. Dumbledore had been ecstatic when he learned that instead of allowing Peter Pettigrew to be killed, Harry instead let him live. He thought that this was a sign that Harry wouldn't fall to the siren call of the Dark Arts. Now, however he was worried once more. What the Healers hadn't realized when they removed the blocks on Harry's Core was that Dumbledore had laced a tracking spell into one of the blocks. With the support of the Bell family, many of the Headmaster's plans may come undone. He was truly worried that Harry would have Mr. Bell petition the Wizengamot to open James and Lily Potter's will. If Harry had that information, Dumbledore doubted that he would be as readily forgiven and he needed to be close to Harry to make sure the boy stayed on the right path for the Greater Good.

Dumbledore took off his half-moon spectacles and rubbed his eyes wearily. He knew he was effectively leading a student to his almost certain death, but there was simply no other acceptable way. He cared about young Harry to be sure, but he cared about fate of the rest of the world more. In the end one boy would be sacrificed to prevent the deaths of thousands more at Tom's hands. At the very least Dumbledore would try and allow Harry to enjoy what would most likely be the last couple years of his life ‒while watching over him and guiding him of course.

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While Dumbledore was wondering about what to do with Harry Potter, Harry Potter was wondering what to do about Dumbledore. Harry knew that the Headmaster knew about the blocks on his Core and the effects they had on his magic, he wouldn't be surprised if a tracking charm was put on him as well. It would certainly explain how Dumbledore always seemed to know where Harry was and where he had been. As it was Harry couldn't fight Dumbledore directly. No, this fight would require subtlety. His confrontation with the Headmaster earlier had been more of a 'losing the battle, but winning the war' sort of thing. Well, at least he hoped he won the war.

While Harry would get support against Dumbledore if he revealed that the Headmaster had known about the abuse he suffered at the hands of his 'relatives' and had allowed it to continue, Harry knew that people would side with Dumbledore as he was the Leader of the Light. Most of the people in Magical Britain believed that Dumbledore could do no wrong, while in fact the Headmaster was just as human as the rest of them. Harry would admit that Dumbledore had once been a great man and leader, but now while he was still as powerful as he once was, he had become somewhat detached with reality and with other people. Since he was so old, Dumbledore saw few people as his intellectual equals and instead shut them out of his plans. Plans that he would say were too complicated for most to understand.

Harry didn't think Dumbledore was some crazy Dark Lord manipulating all those around him, instead Harry thought that Dumbledore simply stopped truly caring about others at some point. True Dumbledore cared about other people, but he cared about people as a _group_, not as individuals. The headmaster would gladly lead a proverbial sheep to the slaughter as he seemed to balance lives against each other. In the case Harry himself was the sheep, and he had no doubt that his one life wouldn't outweigh the lives of countless others.

Harry would be the first to admit that if it came down to it, he would give his own life if it meant saving innocents; however he would do so on his own terms and if no other option was worth taking. Harry would not allow himself to be used as a Passover lamb for a magical community that loved him one moment and hated him the next. All these thought led him back to his current problem; what the bloody hell should he do about Dumbledore? He drifted off to sleep as he pondered his next course of action.

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The next morning while the Healers were checking up on him again, Harry decided that he would figure out what to do about Dumbledore later. The man was trying to save lives after all ‒in his own detached fashion. Instead when Mr. Bell and Katie walked in, Harry started thinking about what to do with the Dursleys. Mr. Bell had suggested just sending them to Azkaban, which Harry thought was appropriate, until Katie had managed to surprise both her father and Harry when she stated that Azkaban would be too good for the Dursley family.

'No one hurts my Harry,' Katie thought to herself. 'Wait my Harry? Since when was he _my_ Harry?' shaking the thoughts away Katie simply smirked and evil smirk that caused all the rooms occupants to pale as she stated simply, "The Twins."

"Holy Merlin's blue balls Katie! You're a genius. An evil genius, but hey your pretty so all will be forgiven," Harry said. Katie blushed a tiny bit and chuckled.

"Language Mr. Potter!" One of the rooms motherly looking Healers said as she looked flabbergasted at the young man.

"English mam, and bloody proud of it!" Harry yelled out as he laughed at his own jokes. However his laughter was cut short when the Healer sweetly smirked and told him that it was time to take his potions. The look on her face might have been sweet, but Harry had thought he saw an evil glint in her eyes. He knew he was being punished for his earlier cheek towards the motherly woman, but hey he had to get his laughs somehow right?

After he took his potions ‒well more like the woman forced potion after potion down his throat as he gagged on the horrible taste that all potions seemed to have‒ Harry and the Bells talked more. Mr. Bell finally conceded that the Weasely Twins would be a proper punishment for the Dursley family after both Katie and Harry told him of but a few of their more well-known pranks. The next problem that Harry was presented with was his guardianship. If the Dursleys weren't taken to court it would be a problem to take legal guardianship from them, or so Henry Bell explained until Harry burst out laughing.

At the looks on the Bell's faces that clearly asked 'are you crazy', Harry explained. "Mr. Bell my relatives hate me, as you have been witness to. If someone gave them a little money and promised that they would never have to see me again, the Dursleys would sign my guardianship over without any hesitation."

Mr. Bell looked angry at that thought but said, "That might indeed work but, that would be only your legal guardianship. You would still need a Magical guardian until you are emancipated and took up the mantle of Lord Potter. As you have explained to me Sirius Black is your rightful magical guardian, and as long as he is on the run Dumbledore can stand as your acting guardian since he is your Headmaster."

"Mr. Bell is there any way we could Sirius cleared of his charges? I mean hell, he was never even tried."

"Well, we could give him a trial and question him under Veritaserum. However the main problem would be persuading Minister Fudge to allow such an event. As you have probably noticed he only looks out for himself and such a failing on the Ministry's part while he was in office would reflect poorly on him. He would have to be offered something in return and we would likely have to cover up Fudge's part in this incident as well. The Purebloods would likely be outraged that one of their number could be falsely imprisoned in Azkaban without so much as a trial ‒and they would have a right to be." Mr. Bell explained as he slowly slipped into what his wife and daughter referred to as his 'Lawyer Mode'.

"Is there anything we can do?" Harry asked as he lost confidence.

"Hmm… we'll see. Don't worry Harry, I'll work on it. In the meantime let us talk about your plans for the rest of the summer. Most likely you will want your parents will opened. Is there anything else you want to do?"

"You're right about the will, but I'm not sure what else I want to do."

"Harry you said you hated how you couldn't work on your magic over the summer right?" Katie asked. Harry, wondering where she was going with this answered that yes that was one of the things he hated about summer, especially now that the Dursley family would hopefully be out of his life for good. "Since you're free from your prison wardens you can finally do just that." Katie explained with a large grin on her face.

"Merlin Katie! How do you always know what I really want before even I do?"

"Harry, I'm a woman." Katie stated as though that explained everything ‒in her mind it did.

Harry decided that it would be best not to respond to that statement as Mr. Bell explained that Harry could read up on magic and magic theory while he recovered and once he was released he would be able to work on the practical aspects of magic. "Mr. Bell? That sounds all fine and dandy but I thought I couldn't perform magic over the summer holidays?"

"You couldn't while staying with the Muggles, but since we are and old family the wards around our house should prevent your magic from being detected." Mr. Bell told Harry. After that they took a small break from their discussion to have a quick brunch, soon after they were finished the Weaselys ‒excluding Arthur Weasely‒ and Hermione Granger showed up to see Harry.

"Harry are you better now? What happened? Why are the Bells here? Does Dumbledore know you're here? Are you going to come back to Hogwarts? When are you going to be released from here?" Hermione asked in one breath. Everyone else stared at her, amazed that she had been able to say all that in one breath. Before anyone could answer the bushy haired bookworm, Molly Weasely burst in the door and asked practically the same questions. While doing so she attempted to give Harry one of her patented bone-crushing hugs. She would have succeeded too, if it weren't for the Twins. Harry had never been happier to see the Twins in his short life; he didn't think his recently healed bones would have been able to survive a Molly Weasely hug at the moment.

"Mum I don't think‒"

"Ickle Harrykins needs‒"

"Any more broken bones." Fred and George Weasely ‒the infamous Weasely Twins‒ said in their typical way that had the eyes of everyone in the room darting back and forth between the two. Harry decided to answer Hermione and Mrs. Weasely's questions.

"Yes. The Durselys. They helped me. Yes. Of course I am. Hopefully soon. Does that answer your questions Hermione?"

"Harry mate I don't think you'll ever be able to answer all of her questions. You know how she gets when she is excited," Harry's other best friend Ron Weasely said. "But seriously mate what the bloody hell happened to you?"

"Ronald Weasely! Language!" Mrs. Weasely shouted. Ron turned slightly red, but didn't really look sorry. The Twins however took the chance to joke with their mother.

"Hmmm… I'm pretty sure he speaks the Queen's English Mum." Fred joked.

"I'm not so sure Fred. Snape says Ickle Ronniekins speaks Dunderhead and I'm inclined to agree." Came George's reply.

"You're right George, after all Snape is a Professor and we should always listen to what Professors tell us."

Ron jumped in and explained to Harry that Mrs. Weasely had told the Twins that they needed to listen to what the Hogwarts Professors tell them and they had decided to reference that at every opportunity. After Mrs. Weasely got the Twins to be quiet, Harry told his story. After he was done Katie told her story. Harry appreciated that as he hadn't heard the Bells' story yet either. When Harry and Katie were done, the male Weaselys and Ginny looked furious while Mrs. Weasely and Hermione had tears in their eyes.

"Oh Harry, you never have to go back to those awful relatives ever again." Mrs. Weasely said.

Mr. Bell assured her that Harry would never have to see them again. It seemed that the Weasely Matron only just remembered what Henry Bell did for a living as she asked Harry how he was going to pay for the case against the Dursely family. Harry told her "Well Mr. Bell told me that I wouldn't have to pay for it, but I've decided that I'm not going to sue the Durselys."

"What do you mean Harry dear? You can't just let them get away with what they did to you."

"Harry smirked and only said two words, "The Twins."

For once Ron was quicker on the uptake than Hermione. As Hermione and the rest of the Weasely family looked at Harry clearly confused, Ron laughed and said, "Oh mate I think that's almost too cruel!" Harry than took the time to explain that he wanted the Twins to show their special brand of fun to the Dursely family ‒giving Katie credit for the idea of course. While the Twins, Ron, and Ginny readily agreed Hermione and Mrs. Weasely understandably took more convincing.

"Think of it this way," Harry said "the Twins want to run a joke shop right?" When Molly Weasely nodded her head Harry continued. "Well this way they can work out the finer details to all of their products. You want them to succeed right Mrs. Weasely? Well this is a good opportunity for them." After about five more minutes, Mrs. Weasely and Hermione agreed. The Twins promised to not use their more dangerous products, but the wink they both sent at Harry when Mrs. Weasley looked the other way told Harry that they would not likely follow that promise. When that was out of the way Harry explained the plan he and the Bells had worked out earlier for his guardianship. The Weasely family and Hermione looked horrified at the news that practically anyone would be able to buy Harry's guardianship.

"Oh, that's a great idea Harry. Once that's out of the way you can spend the rest of the summer at the Burrow."

"No!" Katie practically shouted "Harry is gonna stay with us!" Katie blushed when the rest of the room turned towards her and she realized what she had said. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry thought he saw Ginny glaring at Katie but he thought nothing of it when the conversation resumed.

"Mrs. Weasely, Harry should stay with us at least until the trial to free Sirius is over. Then if he wants to he can go to the Burrow," Mr. Bell gently explained.

"Oh fine, but you simply must allow us to visit poor Harry. I mean look at him he needs to put a lot more meat on those bones. He's way to skinny for a boy his age." After all of the details for both of Harry's plans were worked out, Harry simply talked to his friends about their summer holidays so far. Evidently they didn't do anything to exciting and spent the last week worrying about him. Apparently the St. Mungos hadn't mentioned that Harry was being treated at their hospital until about a week ago as up until that point they weren't sure that Harry would in fact wake up. That statement sent another wave of anger through Harry, but he quickly smashed it down with thoughts of what the Twins would do to his 'relatives'. After a while the Weaselys and Hermione had to leave and return to the Burrow ‒Hermione was going to spend a few days with them so she could visit Harry easier. Soon after the Healers returned and gave Harry another dose of potions ‒including a Dreamless Sleep potion‒ and Harry started to nod off. Katie noticed how Harry seemed to be barely keeping himself awake.

As her father left the room Katie walked over to Harry and ‒like the previous day‒ planted a soft kiss on Harry's lips. "Sweet dreams Harry." She softly whispered. Harry was sure that if he hadn't taken Dreamless Sleep potion he definitely would have. As he fell asleep, Harry could almost still feel Katie's soft lips on his own and her silky brown hair that barely brushed his forehead when she had leaned over. For the first time in nearly thirteen years, Harry fell asleep with a smile on his face.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The next few days at St. Mungo's were rather uneventful for Harry. He would wake up, take his potions, and receive his visitors. Oftentimes the Bell family would visit him before he started to take his potions, because, much to the amusement of the adults in the room, Katie was the only one who was able to coerce Harry into taking a few of the nastier tasting potions. Sure Harry wanted his eyes to be fixed, but the potion for that simply tasted like someone mixed mud with clay ‒with about the same consistency. Between visits from the Weasely family, plus Hermione, Harry would talk to Mr. Bell about the trial for Sirius. Henry Bell thought they had a good chance of freeing Harry's Godfather, but Harry couldn't help but still feel nervous.

The highlight of his days ‒other than talking with Katie of course‒ was when he would talk to the Twins about their plans to 'help' his 'relatives'. Apparently the Twins had been able to sneak into the Dursley house under the cover of Harry's invisibility cloak and steal some household items, which they then returned a few days later ‒after charming them to record thing of course.

Today was the day Harry was going to be released from the Wizarding hospital and be taken to the Bell residence. Harry was extremely nervous about living with the Bells even though they had been nothing but nice to him. He had met Mrs. Bell the day after the first Weasely and Hermione visit and she seemed like a very nice woman. Diane Bell seemed motherly but without the overbearing tendencies that Molly Weasely had. Still, Harry would be living with the family of the girl he had started to fancy.

After breakfast the whole Bell family came to collect Harry. Right now Harry was being out-processed before he would Floo to Bell Manor. Katie had explained to Harry that even though it was a manor, it was not even close to being as big as many of the other old Pureblood manors ‒namely Malfoy Manor and Potter Manor which was supposed to be one of the biggest manors in Britain. As Harry followed Katie to the Floo he felt extremely anxious. Katie seemed to sense his feeling as she grabbed his hand and held it while they continued to walk. Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Bell seemed to react to this, but Harry figured that Katie was just as embarrassed as he was judging by the near identical blushes that adorned both of their faces. The Bell parents went through the Floo first followed by Harry and then Katie. When Harry arrived at Bell Manor, he promptly fell out of the fireplace and only avoided falling flat on his face because Katie had managed to grab him in time. Though she had put her arms firmly around his waist and the two teens blushes while the adults laughed.

"Floo travel not agree with you Harry?" Diane Bell asked after she stopped laughing. However she started laughing again when Harry only blushed harder and grumbled. They then showed Harry around the manor, with Katie taking great excitement to show Harry her own room on the second floor. The two teens both blushed again when Katie showed Harry that their bedrooms were across the hall from each other. The manor was fairly large and even contained a dueling room and large library. Both Katie and Harry quickly agreed that they would not mention the library to Hermione, who would probably spend days locked inside it if she found out about it. Bell Manor had three floors, numerous bedrooms, a few sitting rooms, various other rooms that Harry really wasn't interested in and a large yard surrounding it. Bell Manor was situated somewhere in the British countryside and had a small forest at its southern border. After the tour they ate lunch and waited for the Weasely family plus Hermione to Floo in. Evidently the Twins thought it would be a good idea to throw a 'The-Boy-Who-Lived-Lived-Again' party. The party would mainly be just conversation between the teens, but Fred and George had mentioned a surprise to Harry and no amount of questioning could get more information from them.

The Weasely family plus Hermione showed up around Two O'clock and Katie quickly led the group of teenagers to a sitting room. The group talked about Quidditch and school for about an hour before Harry finally caved and asked about the surprise ‒much to the amusement of the others. Fred took great delight in taking a small package from his pocket and enlarging dramatically it before giving it to Harry. The-Boy-Who-Lived pulled off the wrapping and revealed a mirror that was large enough to be held in one's hand but small enough to carry in a schoolbag.

"This Harry is one of our greatest inventions." Fred told him.

"You see Harry, this mirror is linked to the various charmed recorders in the Dursley house." Geroge explained. "Simply tap one of the runes near the bottom and the mirror will show views from different rooms. The runes on the back of the mirror allow you to cycle between recordings."

"We took the liberty of selecting the first recording for you." Fred stated.

Harry was just itching to try it out. He couldn't wait to watch the Durselys finally get some payback. "Thanks guys. It means a lot to me," he said.

"Well go on Harry try it," his best friend Ron prompted. Try it Harry did. The group spent the rest of the time until dinner watching various pranks, even Hermione who was reluctant at first started laughing with the rest of them after a bit.

Line Break

Petunia Dursely was having an overall good week. The Boy had disappeared from his room along with his belongings, but she didn't worry. After all he would probably die soon and there wasn't any way he would be able to retaliate against them. Oh how she would live to regret her actions. The only strange thing that had happened was the weird disappearance of a few items in each room and then their reappearance a couple days later. After a while, Petunia thought nothing of it. Vernon left to go to work already and Dudders had gone out to meet his friends for tea. As such, Petunia had the house to herself. She decided to pass the time by watching the soap operas she was fond of, when she heard a small squeak from somewhere behind her.

She looked around, but there was nothing behind the coach she was sitting on so she passed it off as nothing more than the TV making weird noises. She would have to talk to Vernon about getting it checked out later. Throughout the afternoon, she continued to hear those bizarre squeaks, but couldn't tell where they were coming from. Petunia finally stood up, determined to find the source behind the noise, when she hear a squeak from the kitchen. 'Aha, I got you,' she thought. When she opened the kitchen door and walked in, she froze in fear and surprise. The kitchen was covered in rats. Petunia screamed and grabbed a stool before promptly standing upon it. In her haste she didn't notice that the door had closed behind her and locked itself. She looked at the clock and screamed again when she realized that Vernon wouldn't be home for a few hours.

Sure enough, a few hours later Vernon waddled through the door to their house. He had a tiring day as some customer refused to accept that he sold drills and not screwdrivers. Honestly the gall of some people! Vernon would have continued ranting had he not heard a scream come through the door to the kitchen. He recognized the scream as his wife's voice and he waddled as fast as his stubby little legs could carry him. When he reached the door he found it locked. Vernon threw all of his considerable weight into the door as he broke it down. When he recovered he saw Petunia standing atop a stool surrounded by big black rats. As soon as the rats noticed his presence they shot towards him. Vernon literally jumped out of the doorway and felt his right shoulder dislocate when he landed. The rats used this opportunity to scurry out of the kitchen. Moments later the rats were spread all throughout the house.

"Vernon! Call the exterminator!"

Vernon did just that once he was able to stand up with help from his wife. Petunia would have called for him, but she was still in shock and nearly fainted when she saw a rat scurry out from under the couch she was about to sit upon. Vernon hesitated to call the exterminators as the neighbors would surely see and start gossiping. However, his hesitation disappeared when he noticed his son walk in the front door and a particularly big rat ran up Dudley's pant leg. Between Dudley's yelling and Petunia's frantic screaming, Vernon was barely able to hear the exterminator on the other line. The man said he would be over in about an hour. When Vernon yelled at him the man said he could be there in half the time, but he would charge twenty-five percent more.

When the Dursleys noticed the big exterminator van the three of them ran outside. Dudley had managed to get the large rat off of him only after he had suffered a few bites to a particularly painful area of the male anatomy. The exterminator put his gear on and went into Number Four, only to return a half hour later furious. "I don't know what you were trying to pull here, but I'm doubling the bill for wasting my time."

"What the bloody hell do you mean wasting your time? The buggers were all over the house!" Vernon shouted as his face turned red. At this point many of the neighbors were watching the exchange, though Vernon didn't seem to notice.

"Like I said there were no rats in your house! I'm going to leave now, and don't expect to use my services ever again!" After the exterminator shouted at the Dursleys and drove off, all the watching neighbors broke into excited chatter. It was at this point that Vernon took notice of their presence and rushed his family back into their home. A quick walk of the house proved that the rats were indeed gone, but the damage was done. Petunia would scream every time she saw something remotely rat like or heard a squeak like sound. She ended up screaming a lot the next few weeks as the stairs were suddenly more squeaky than normal. They would also have to spend a good deal of money paying for Vernon to get his shoulder fixed, the door replaced, and Dudley's bits examined.

Line Break

"Hahaha! How did you two manage to make all the rats disappear?" Harry asked the Twins after that viewing.

"Well Harry, we can't perform magic outside of school yet."

"So we use potions to cause the same general results."

"Though Dad let us borrow his wand when we let him know what we wanted to do."

"That's right. We needed it to charm the door to close and lock once someone entered."

Hermione looked like she wanted to pry more information from the Twins, especially about the potions comment since it was well known within Hogwarts that the two were terrible at brewing, but stopped when Harry played another scene.

Line Break

A couple of days after the rat incident, Petunia Dursley was on the phone with a neighbor. The Dursley household had gotten numerous phone calls and visitors all trying to find out what the ruckus was about a few days ago. Somehow Petunia had managed to redirect all of the questions and the gossip was finally starting to die down. Vernon had just woken up and was currently on his way down the stairs. Try as she might, Petunia couldn't stop flinching whenever he stepped on the stairs. The squeaking was just too much! "Vernon do something about the stairs!"

"What do you want me to do? It's not my fault!" Vernon was angry now. That was about the fifteenth time his wife told him to do something about the damned squeaking stairs. Years of stomping up and down to cause problems for Harry and two extremely overweight people walking up and down them had caused the wooden stairs to weaken. Normally this wouldn't have been a problem for a couple of years as the stairs were relatively new. However, a special potion brewed by the twins had been liberally poured on the stairs and caused them to weaken further. It was extremely unfortunate that the stairs chose this exact time to finally give up their struggle against the Dursley Whale known as Vernon. Well, unfortunate for him; hilarious to the audience watching.

When he reached the exact spot over Harry's broom cupboard, the stairs gave out under Vernon.

"AAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"

In the kitchen Petunia heard Vernon yell out and immediately heard a loud crash. She rushed in and saw Vernon buried under the rubble from the collapsed stairs over the cupboard that the Boy had lived in and once again screamed. It took a team of team of firefighters and paramedics four hours to clear the rubble and drag Vernon out. As he was brought to the hospital with Petunia riding with him, Dudley was forgotten.

He had been on the second floor when the stairs gave out and had no way of getting down now. After about an hour he started to go through weed withdrawal. He usually smoked it seven times a day with his 'friends' as they brought the drugs. Since the stairs failed he couldn't leave and get more. After another hour Dudders couldn't take it and decided to somehow leave. He went into his room to think and noticed the open window. His foot got caught on the way out and two stories later Dudley was lying on the lawn with multiple broken bones.

Across the street Mrs. Figg had watched the entire event. Normally she was a very caring woman. However, this was the family that caused Harry serious problems over the years. She had noticed the abuse Harry suffered and brought it to Dumbledore's attention, but the man had told her not to worry. Since Mrs. Figg had no children of her own she had treated Harry the way she would have if he had indeed been her child. Now she finally had a way to punish the Dursleys. Several hours later Petunia would return from the hospital only to see her son sprawled out on the lawn in pain. Another ambulance ride later and two Dursleys were staying at the hospital.

Line Break

All too soon the other had to leave. After dinner they did just that. Harry thought himself lucky as Hermione would no doubt bombard the Twins with questions the moment they reached the Burrow. Hermione would be returning home the next day, but promised to stay in contact with him. Before he went to bed Mr. Bell called Harry over. The two had made plans to meet with the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Amelia Bones, and the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge the next day as well. Once Mr. Bell deemed Harry ready for the meeting, Harry went up to his room. He couldn't help but wonder if Katie would continue the tradition of kissing him before he went to bed that she had started while he was at St Mungo's.

After a few minutes of waiting Harry started to give up hope and started to change his clothes. It was a very embarrassed Harry that Katie Bell that walked in on to give a kiss. She had walked in before Harry could put on a new shirt.

"Wow Harry. I knew Quidditch was good for you, but you've certainly filled out nice." The potions Harry had been taken had started to give him the muscles he should have had years ago, and he already had the start of sick pack abs. Katie merely giggled at him, when Harry turned red and began to stutter. "Relax Harry," Katie said as she walked up and kissed him. The other kisses had been chaste, but Katie found herself wanting more from the attractive shirtless boy. She deepened the kiss and was shocked when Harry responded eagerly. After a few more seconds, they broke off the kiss and stared at each other's rapidly reddening faces. "Ummm… Goodnight Harry."

"Yeah uh goodnight Katie."

Katie walked out of Harry's room and into her own wondering just were this relationship was going. She wanted to date him properly, but decided to take it slow. She suspected Harry wanted to date her as well, but he was still recovering from his abuse and was probably not ready for a relationship yet anyway. Katie sighed 'Maybe by the end of the summer.' She went to sleep soon after and had dreams filled with a certain green eyed boy, while Harry had similar dreams of a certain blue eyed girl.

**Author's Note: The Dursely's punishment has just begun. If you have any ideas for a good prank let me know in a Review. If I use it I will give you credit in an Author's Note. I have a few ideas but it would really help if you guys gave me some of your own. Read and Review.**


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